Extension developers, take note: if you are not yet hosting your extension in the Chrome Web Store, now is the time to do so. Back in November as part of our ongoing effort to protect Chrome users from malicious and unwanted software, we announced that we will require Chrome extensions to be hosted on the Chrome Web Store. Earlier this month we started enforcing this policy for the Chrome Beta channel on Windows, and have been gathering feedback from users and developers.

Some developers have requested more time to complete this transition, so we've decided to extend the window until May 1 before we start enforcing this policy for the Windows Stable channel. As a reminder this policy will only apply to Windows Beta and Stable channel users. You can continue to use off-store extensions on Windows Dev and Canary, as well as on Mac, Linux and Chrome OS. Developer and enterprise policy use cases are similarly unaffected.

To minimize potential disruption to your users, please be sure to register your extension in the Chrome Web Store before May 1. After this time extensions outside the Chrome Web Store will be automatically disabled. If you register after the deadline your users will need to manually re-enable or re-install your extension to regain functionality. Please take a look at our FAQs, and if you need any help or support through this transition, reach out to us on our mailing list.

Update May 16, 2014: This will begin being enforced on Windows stable channel shortly after Chrome 35 is released, near the end of May.